This invention relates generally to oral cleaning appliances using fluid droplets and pressurized gas to accomplish cleaning of teeth, and more specifically concerns an actuating mechanism for release of bursts of pressurized gas within the appliance.
One type of oral cleaning appliance, particularly adapted for interdental cleaning, uses bursts of pressurized gas acting on a stream of liquid to produce liquid droplets, to accomplish the desired cleaning. The bursts of gas can be either air or CO2. One example of such an appliance produces successive bursts of pressurized gas by operation of a user-operated control member such as a pushbutton or similar member. In such a system, it is important that, in operation of the control member, a single action in one direction acts to both charge a gas valve in the appliance with pressurized gas and then to subsequently discharge the gas from the valve in successive bursts to a nozzle assembly in which the droplets are produced and then delivered through an exit tip to the teeth for cleaning. The present invention accomplishes these desired objectives in a reliable and efficient manner.
Accordingly, the invention disclosed herein is a mechanism for controlling release of bursts of pressurized gas from a supply thereof for use in an oral cleaning apparatus, comprising: a hollow interior valve member having a rear end portion, the valve member having a valve wall with a circumferential groove therein, and a plurality of openings connecting the groove with the hollow interior of the valve member; an entrance line for gas extending from a supply thereof to an exterior surface of the valve member; an exit line for gas, extending from the exterior surface of the valve member to an exit assembly, wherein the gas exit line is offset longitudinally from the gas entrance line along the length of the valve member; and a releasing assembly, which includes a contact member operating against the rear end portion of the valve member, moving it forwardly from an initial nominal position to a position where the gas entrance line is aligned with the circumferential groove, permitting gas to enter, wherein the releasing assembly includes a forward portion which is configured such that further forward movement of the releasing member results in the valve member moving rearwardly, aligning the valve member with the gas exit line, permitting gas to exit from the valve member to the gas exit assembly.